Environment & Bray Head

The Old Downes Road has flooded in one place for some years but is now flooding in a second area. This makes it difficult to access the houses and people have been forced to buy 4 wheel drives. The picture shows Cllr Derek Mitchell checking the flooding recently. I have asked the Council to fix this recurring problem but it is proving a problem as there is no surface water drainage system. I have asked that soak away pits are dug.

DublinArray is applying for a foreshore licence for a large wind farm on the Bray and Kish Banks. ‘Normally I support environmentally friendly proposals but I am objecting to this because it will have a major negative visual effect on Greystones and the Cliff Walk’. 145 windmills 160m high are planned and the power connection is to go by undersea cable to Shangannagh. They are to be 9km from shore at the nearest. In 2005 the Codling Bank scheme obtained a foreshore licence for 220 turbines but these are 15km…

I am disturbed that he is issuing wrong information on the Cliff Walk which will lessen the number of tourist coming to Greystones. The Cliff Walk is popular and walkers use the restaurants. Most T.D.s support the businesses in their area and I have written to him to ask him to withdraw his press release. He stated that ‘he heard there were plans to wind the Cliff Walk in a circle back to Bray, bypassing Greystones’ This is the opposite of what is being done as the Council has recently…

The IDA is asking to change the planning status of its 70 acres in Greystones which is zoned for industry. They have owned this land for 25 years but have ignored it and produced no jobs on it. The present work on the site putting in roads, telecoms and other services is very positive. I believe that the next secondary school, which will be needed in a couple of years, should be on this site next to Charlesland where many young children live. I have asked the Council to leave…

6 outdoor staff of Wicklow County Council have recently retired and not been replaced because of the recruitment embargo. This is affecting the maintenance of public spaces such as flowerbeds, parks, and roadside edges. The remaining staff are concentrating on keeping the beach and central area tidy in order to maintain Blue Flag status for the beach. The Tidy Towns Group is trying to get the town tidy before the judging takes place in June. There have been a number of FAS schemes in Greystones which did very useful work…

Residents of Killincarrick Road in the Burnaby have asked Local Election candidates to commit to banning the Charlesland Shuttlebus from using the road because of the noise. I do not know why it goes that way and whether it needs to. I am a very firm and longstanding supporter of Public Transport, having campaigned for the DART for 22 years, and it is essential that Charlesland Residents can get to the DART as easily as possible. I am reluctant to ban Public Transport. I have told them that I will…

The 2,000th block (out of a total of 5,000) of the seawall was laid at Greystones Harbour on the 21st May. This marks almost the halfway point in constructing the seawall. Two shifts will be worked until midnight, over the Summer to try to complete the seawall before the Winter storms.

The marshes are a very special area and we want them preserved and support Birdwatch Ireland’s plans for the area. We want the walk to Wicklow Town improved and made safer before it can be used more people. We are trying to work with Irish Rail and the National Parks Service to produce a plan to improve it.

(photo) 5 years ago I got the strongest restrictions on house building in Wicklow to apply between the main road and the sea on Bray Head. In the previous 20 years there had been 26 planning applications to build houses on Cliff Road, Windgates. Minister of State, Dick Roche T.D. (Fianna Fail) has written at least 20 letters to planning officials urging them to allow houses on the Greystones side of Bray Head. In contrast to his attitude the change in the planning rules which I promoted has prevented the…